She made up her mind quickly – she would create a larger box, rather than risk having to increase its size during the test. And instead of a box, she decided on a sphere – the roundness of it would allow the air to flow past it rather than create a solid wall to push against.
She took her time creating the protective sphere, keeping her eyes closed and her breathing even. The Air answered her call and stilled within the sphere, the candle flame stilling and losing its flicker.
Once she was ready, she opened her eyes and looked towards Marcus and nodded her readiness, a challenge bright in her eyes. A slight smile passed over his lips – so brief she questioned whether she’d seen it at all. From what she had glimpsed, it was both lupine and predatory, a clear answer to her challenge. He stood again and counted down the start of her five minutes.
Instantly, Allyra felt multiple Atmospherics start to push against her sphere. She could pick out five distinct sources, each one’s power leaving a different taste, an individuality. The air began to gust around her, lifting the hair off her shoulders, blowing tendrils about her face. But she didn’t feel any of it, retreating deep into her mind, a place where she was almost separated from her physical self.
Most of the air blew harmlessly past, the curves of her sphere directing it by innocently. The Atmospherics were powerful. Four of them pushed relentlessly against her defenses, but one was more delicate than the others, rather than using brute force, he prodded at her defenses, testing for imperfections or vulnerabilities.
The other four Atmospherics combined their efforts - the air was coming from all directions now, trying to force her to diminish her sphere, to extinguish her own flame. It was becoming a test of strength and she allowed a small smile to ghost her lips. These Atmospherics didn’t know her – she was more than equal to even their combined strength – at least for five minutes.
The air moved wildly, as powerful as a tornado. It swirled through the room, whipping her hair behind her, lifting the hem of her dress and cloak, but her concentration didn’t waver. The crowd, the hall and the world fell away, becoming nothing more than a single candle and its orange flame.
Chaos surrounded her; she was in the eye of the storm, the air as alive as she was, roaring in her ears. In contrast, within her sphere the air was perfectly still, not even the slightest tremble could be seen in the flame.
Allyra started to find joy within the chaos. Her heart sang elatedly. Immersed in this world, she felt as light as the air itself. It called on her to give more of herself, tempting her to show them, to show Marcus and the Council the strength and power she possessed. To show them how dangerous she might be. It would be so easy to lose herself to it, its siren call as powerful as that of the Veil.
It was the memory of the Veil that jolted her back to her senses. Reality and cold logic reasserted itself. She abruptly reigned in her exhibition of overconfidence, glancing up at the clock. Four minutes had passed, only a minute stood between her and passing this test.
She caught a glimpse of Marcus, his expression was unreadable, his face blank, bored even. Would he be disappointed by her success? As the seconds ticked down, she was suddenly aware of the slightest touch on her candle flame, a tug on the red Fire thread. The candle flame flickered ever so slightly. She tried to follow the thread of power back to its owner, but whoever it was shielded their power expertly. It was completely against the rules, but she couldn’t cry foul. As an Atmospheric, she shouldn’t even know it was happening.
The Atmospherics pushed harder, the trembling flame giving them reason to believe her defenses were failing. Panic rose in her throat, if she didn’t stop the Inferno, her battle would be lost before the Trials even truly began. The candle flickered again and the collective gasp of the crowd reverberated through her.
Instinctively, she wanted to reach out and pull back on the thread, to send her own energy to it, to make the flame burn hotter and brighter. But by doing so, she would effectively be announcing to this crowd that she was an Elemental – the one thing she promised Alex she would never do. In any case, it was likely that giving up this particular secret would lead to an even swifter and less pleasant death.
Her panicked mind chased a thousand different thoughts.
So now what?
She knew what she couldn’t do, but what was possible?
She had to use the only tool she had available to her: Air. She only had seconds left to survive, but in even less time, she was going to lose the flame.
Allyra closed her eyes again, seeing the world only by its colored woven threads. The red thread of her candle flame was thinner and paler than before, its energy being robbed. It was then that her path forward became clear, she would have to block the Inferno from reaching the candle flame. Just as her sphere stopped the air from blowing out her flame, she could use it to stop the Inferno.
Allyra started weaving the yellow threads tighter, stacking the air molecules together like a jigsaw puzzle, pouring her own energy into it, filling the tiniest of gaps.
Tiny beads of sweat formed on her hairline and a tremor crawled through her body. The touch on her flame lessened, and then stopped altogether, allowing it to grow brighter. But it wasn’t over yet; time was elastic, every second stretching painfully. Her core of power, once pouring out like a mighty river had slowed to the
